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Centreville during the Civil War

Centreville is an unincorporated community in Fairfax County, Virginia, settled by the English in
the 1720s. During the American Civil
War (1861–1865), its elevated topography and its proximity to Washington,
D.C., made Centreville attractive to both the Union and Confederate armies. So, too,
did the junction of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad with the Manassas Gap line, a few miles to the
southwest, which allowed the village to be used as a supply depot throughout the war.
The First Battle of
Manassas (1861) and the Second Battle of Manassas (1862) were fought
nearby, and the Confederate partisan John S. Mosby used the village as a base during
the war. MORE...

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Centreville is located on a high plateau where various creeks flow into Bull Run. Virginia Indians carved a
trail through the site connecting the Occoquan River to a pass in the Blue Ridge Mountains; the trail, used by
English settlers, would come to be known as the Mountain Road. In 1739 Willoughby
Newton of Westmoreland
County acquired 1,719 acres of land on either side of the Mountain Road and
established the settlement that was first called Newgate after a tavern built there
about 1749. Centreville was established by the General Assembly in 1792, deriving its name,
according to an 1835 gazetteer, "from its central position, being about equidistant
from Leesburg, Middleburg, Warrenton, Washington, Georgetown, and Alexandria." The
village's fortunes hinged on that central position, but Centreville began to decline
as nineteenth-century turnpikes and railroads largely bypassed it. In 1854, the
population was only 250; by 1860, it was probably less.

On May 23, 1861, the eligible voters of Centreville unanimously ratified the Virginia
Convention's Ordinance of Secession, 105 to 0. Because of the village's
location near the junction of two important railroads, Centreville held strategic
interest for both the Union and Confederate armies. It lay within striking distance
of the United States capital and was near a rail connection to the Shenandoah Valley. When
Union general Irvin McDowell's
army marched in the direction of Richmond in July 1861, it made camp in Centreville and skirmished with
Confederates under James
Longstreet at Blackburn's Ford on the road between Centreville and Manassas Junction. Three days later,
on July 21, the first major battle of the war, the First Battle of Manassas, was
fought at Manassas Junction and along Bull Run.

Union wounded from the engagements at Blackburn's Ford and Manassas overwhelmed the
town, with homes, hotels, and the stone Methodist church all used as hospitals.
Still, one Union soldier complained that "in this poverty-stricken town, it was
impossible to find supplies of any kind or description. The few people who remained
had either hidden, sold, or been deprived of their stores."

Victorious Confederates, under the command of Joseph E. Johnston, set up winter camp at
Centreville, reducing the area's forest to build and heat one-room log cabins, many
of which were given names, such as "Uncle Tom's Cabin." The soldiers also built miles
of earthworks that looked impressive from afar in part because they were embellished
with so-called Quaker guns, or logs made to resemble cannons. Union major general
George B. McClellan was
convinced not to attack, and after Johnston withdrew on March 8, 1862, he sailed his
Army of the Potomac all the
way to the Virginia Peninsula.

Union soldiers arrived in Centreville on March 10, 1862, and occupied the village for
much of the rest of the war. The Confederate partisan John S. Mosby was a force in
the area. His 43rd Cavalry Battalion became so dominant in Fauquier, Loudoun, Fairfax, and Prince
William counties that the region became known as "Mosby's Confederacy."

By the end of the war, Centreville was devastated. An observer at the dedication of
monuments on the Bull Run battlefield in 1865 described it as "a desert." In 1914, a
journalist added to that: "If ever a village was killed in war it was Centerville
[sic]. Perhaps it was choked by smoke of burning powder or
smothered by the sulphurous gas from guns; perhaps it was blighted by the rain of
shell or overcome by the horrors that it saw. Today it bears wounds and scars. Its
wounds are bullet-pitted walls and shot-riven trees. Its scars are sunken graves and
vine-veiled redoubts."

Time Line

1720s
- English settlers arrive in the area around present-day Centreville.

1739
- Willoughby Newton of Westmoreland County acquires 1,719 acres of land on either side of the Mountain Road and establishes the settlement that will become Centreville.

ca. 1749
- A tavern called Newgate is built near present-day Centreville, giving the community its first name.

1792
- The General Assembly establishes the town of Centreville, in Fairfax County. The village was originally called Newgate.

May 23, 1861
- The eligible voters of Centreville unanimously ratify the Ordinance of Secession, 150 to 0.

July 21, 1861
- The First Battle of Manassas is fought, overwhelming nearby Centreville with wounded Union soldiers.

August 1861–March 1862
- Confederates under Joseph E. Johnston make camp at Centreville, building earthworks and embellishing them with so-called Quaker guns, or logs made to resemble cannons.